RBEA18: and the nominees are…

Monday October 29, 2018

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After an initial round of voting by the 100-headed jury and a long deliberation of the super jury, the results are in. We now know who is nominated for this year’s edition of the Red Bull Elektropedia Awards. Four people have already received an award: Cellini, Susobrino and Sylvie Kreusch as Most Promising Artists and Thierry Coppens (the Fuse co-founder and La Demence promoter) but all the other medals will be decided by you.

Now for the stuff you came for! All in all, Angèle is set to step out her brother’s shadow with 6 nominations. She’s closely followed by last year’s Most Promising Artists blackwave., Antwerp-based hip hop artist DVTCH NORRIS, Zwangere Guy’s rap formation STIKSTOF, Ghent-based house duo Asa Moto, the enigmatic Blu Samu and the jolly bunch of Le 77 (4 nominations each). Prolific rappers Damso and Hamza racked up 3 nominations each.

Let’s dig a little deeper in each category. There are many we need to go through, so let’s start with the most prolific one of the bunch: Angèle, Amelie Lens, blackwave., Charlotte De Witte, Damso, DVTCH NORRIS, Hamza, Roméo Elvis x Le Motel, Soulwax and STIKSTOF will battle out who will become the Artist Of The Year.

Quite a lot of diversity in the Best Song category to start off with: Angèle is the only artist with 2 nominated tracks (‘Je Veux Tes Yeux’ and ‘La Loi De Murphy’). She’s joined by blackwave. (‘Whasgood?!’), Damso (‘Feu De Bois’), Soulwax (‘Essential Four’) and DVTCH NORRIS (‘Toothpick’ feauturing Bhavi) amongst others. AliA, Asa Moto, EKANY, Innershades and Locked Groove are amongst the nominated folk for Best Remix.

For Best Album, things are interesting too. Damso (‘Lithopedion’), Hamza (‘1994’), Soulwax (‘Essential’) and STIKSTOF (‘Overlast’) may be expected inclusions, but it’s great to see fresh faces like DVTCH NORRIS (‘I’m Sad, I Wanna Make It’), Le 77 (‘Bawlers’), Asa Moto (‘Playtime’) and TheColorGrey (‘For What It’s Worth’) in there amongst others. In Best Breakthrough Artist/DJ/Producer, we shine a light one whoever had the steepest rise to the top over the last year. Angèle, Blu Samu, AliA, Farrago, SLM, Moka Boka, DTM Funk, Cellini and Susobrino will battle that one out in fine style.

Behind every great release, there’s a talented producer. It’s those who get the shine in this year’s Best Producer list, which includes DC Salas, Le Motel, Cleveland, Corrupted, Hiele, Jeroen De Pessemier (who works on Oscar & The Wolf amongst others) and Kiani & His Legion. But as an artist, you also need to be able to perform in front of a crowd – and that’s what the Best Live category is for. With nominees like STUFF., Roméo Elvis x Le Motel, Coely, Soulwax and blackwave., it looks like the competition will be a tough one. The same can be said about Best Label, where the big boys of DEEWEE, PIAS and Top Notch Belgium will take on the impressive releases of smaller fish like Basic Moves, Stroom and Form And Function amongst others.

Nothing but great concepts with a heart and soul in the Best Party category this year. Under My Garage, Heartbroken, BSMNT and Vice City all hosted tasty events throughout the year amongst others. Extra shouts for the LGBT-minded events SPEK and Gay Haze, who both secured their first nominations in this category.

Whenever a party gets more than 1000 visitors on the regular, we put them in a separate Really Big Party section. Newcomers here are Exhale By Amelie Lens and Full Circle, who will rub shoulders with regular guests RAMPAGE, All Eyes On Hip Hop, Deep In House, Kozzmozz and FCKNYE.

No surprises as far the festivals go. You already know who the big players are in this game, but it will be interesting to see if Couleur Café, Les Ardentes, Listen Festival, HORST, WECANDANCE or Paradise City Festival can claim a spot in the top 3.

Lots of new faces in the Best Media category this year, which is great development for music fans in this country. CHECK, Kiosk Radio, Vice Belgium and Tarmac will have to deal with fierce competition like The Word, Chase and Subbacultcha!

Many new faces in the Best Breakthrough Party/Event/Club too, which makes sense, right? C12, who hit the ground running this year, is the only venue in the list. They take on the newly incepted events Elrow Town Festival, Supervue Festival, Hip Hub Hooray, LifeSnacks Open Air and Out The Frame amongst others.

They say radio is dying, but that couldn’t be further from the truth – proved by the stellar candidates in our Best Radio category. As one might expect, Studio Brussel is well-represented with 4 shows (Lefto, Faisal, KNTXT and Switch), but BRUZZ (Back To Niceness and Supafly), MNM (Urbanice), Tarmac (Flag) and even two fellow Belgians on the London-based NTS Radio (Nosedrip and Nicolas Lewis’ This Is Belgium show) are on the lookout for a place in the final three.

Photographers can be considered the unsung heroes of nightlife, as they document our most cherished moments on the dancefloor. Last year’s winner Nachtschaduw will take on both established and less familiar names, like Casper Cox, Annika Wallis, Jennifer Kesteleyn and Kemizz amongst others. Designers on the other hand are the ones that makes sure your releases and parties don’t just sound good, but look good too. Amongst this year’s nominees, we can find Stephanie Specht (for her work on All Eyes On Hip Hop), Guillaume Kayacan (for his work on JeanJass & Caballero’s Double Hélice 3), Uber & Kosher (for their work on Hush Hush) and III-Studio (for their work on Soulwax’ Essential).

The Best Video category should really speak for itself. Charlotte Abramow is nominated twice for both her Angèle music videos (‘Je Veux Tes Yeux’ and ‘La Loi De Murphy’). She will take on Cyprien Delire (who made the ‘Toujours Les Mêmes’ video for JeanJass, Caballero and Krisy), and Sidney Van Wichelen (who made Hamza’s Life video) amongst a nice bunch of other extremely talented editors.

Lastly, the Chase Award is reserved for the best up and coming talents in the urban scene who are set to have a rich career in front of them. This year, the nominees for that one are Blu Samu, Bryan MG, Eddy Ape, Glints, Jay &MNG, K1D, Lord Gasmique, Luie Louis, Moka Boka and Venlo.

We may be thinking ‘why didn’t I hear anything about Best Club or Best DJ’? Well, that’s because those categories don’t work with nominations. In fact: very club and DJ is eligible!